Prosecutors in Ohio announced that they will seek the death penalty against Rodney Hinton Jr., in a trial set to begin January 12, 2026. The Cincinnati man, 38, allegedly drove his car into a Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy on May 2, killing him. The act was said to be in reaction to the fatal police shooting of his son, Ryan, 18, a day earlier.

Although the case received a lot of attention in Black social media circles, it has mostly escaped mainstream attention. 

Here’s what you should know about what happened: 

  • Ryan Hinton was shot and killed by a Cincinnati police officer May 1. Officers investigating a report that day of a stolen car chased four suspects into a wooded area behind an apartment building where the car was found. Body cam footage showed the chase. Officers said they saw Ryan carrying a firearm. Officials say there is no evidence Ryan fired a weapon during the encounter, but a gun with an extended magazine was found near the location of the shooting. Another magazine was found on Ryan’s body.
  • The Cincinnati Police Department’s firearms discharge policy prohibits use of deadly force to prevent escape in misdemeanor cases. It also calls it “constitutionally unreasonable” in felony cases except when the escape risks death or physical harm to others. Police bodycam footage is blurry and does not clearly detail what happened, but does show a person running with a gun, and an officer was heard shouting “gun” before shots rang out, CPD Chief Theresa Theetge said at a press conference.
  • The officer who shot Ryan Hinton is not being named because of an Ohio statute called Marsy’s Law, which protects the identity of crime victims. Theetge said that the officer was the victim of a crime because Hinton allegedly pointed a gun at him. “Like it or not, he gets the same protections under Marsy’s Law as any other citizen does,” Theetge told reporters. “So actually, it’s not that I choose not to release their name, I cannot release their name because of Marsy’s Law.” The officer was working undercover at the time. Officials would not say if the officer returned to duty after the shooting.
  • The day after Ryan Hinton’s death, Rodney Hinton Jr. drove a vehicle that struck and killed Hamilton County deputy Larry Henderson, 57, who was on duty near the University of Cincinnati campus, police say. Hamilton County prosecutor Connie Pillich told reporters Hinton became upset and flustered after Cincinnati police showed him and his family bodycam footage of the shooting of Ryan Hinton. 
  • He reportedly left the meeting, and was driven to two other locations, then returned to  get his car. He drove a few miles — with family members following in another vehicle — then positioned his car in a center lane. From that lane,  he would have been able to see Henderson, officials said. He then drove a car across traffic and struck the deputy, Pillich said. He then crashed into a pole and was subsequently taken into custody. During a May 6 court hearing, Hinton’s attorney, Clyde Bennett II, said that his client was “not in his right mind” and may pursue an insanity defense. He was charged with aggravated murder and has pleaded not guilty.
  • Pillich said that Hinton deliberately targeted a law enforcement officer. In announcing the grand jury indictment, she said she would be pursuing the death penalty. He was denied bond ahead of his Jan. 12 trial date, according to WLWT. A $25 million lawsuit, filed on Hinton’s behalf, claims his son was  “subjected to excessive force resulting in visible injuries.” But Bennett said neither he nor HInton had anything to do with the suit. “We were totally unaware of it until it was reported by the media,” attorney Bennett told The Cincinnati Enquirer.
  • Henderson, a Marine veteran, had retired from the Sheriff’s Office, where he had worked since 1991. As a retiree, he worked special details like the University of Cincinnati commencement, where he was struck and killed.